Karapetyan was arrested in April as the result of an investigation that started in fall 2004, when patients contacted Medicare after receiving notices summarizing the fraudulent services, officials said. Medicare opened an investigation before contacting the FBI.
While Karapetyan did rent a one-room office in downtown Los Angeles, the claims were made under the stolen identities of four licensed California physicians who never worked for the Glendale medical clinic, officials said. At trial, federal prosecutors presented evidence that no patients ever received medical services at the office.
“Several Medicare beneficiaries testified at trial,” Kim said. “They would receive in the mail these notices of treatment that they supposedly had received, and not recognize the doctor who had treated them or the services.”
Karapetyan billed more than $3.2 million in fraudulent services in one month, officials said, but because of the quick discovery of the charges, many of the checks were canceled before he could deposit the funds.
By the time the fraud was discovered, he had deposited about $566,000 in two bank accounts, transferring tens of thousands of dollars to himself and two associates in Armenia, officials said.
Karapetyan had testified that he was a “straw owner” of the clinic, and that Sadrek Asatryan, now deceased, was actually responsible for the business, officials said.
But prosecutors argued that Karapetyan had actively participated in conducting the scheme’s financial transactions.
On Friday, Karapetyan’s attorney, Edward Robinson, said his client got caught up in the scheme and that he wasn’t fully aware of the operation.
